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Jackie Reviewed By Jon E Clist

JACKIE is a searing and intimate portrait of one of
the most important and tragic moments in American history, seen through the
eyes of the iconic First Lady, then Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy (Natalie Portman).
JACKIE places us in her world during the days immediately following her
husband's assassination. Known for her extraordinary dignity and poise, here we
see a psychological portrait of the First Lady as she struggles to maintain her
husband's legacy and the world of "Camelot" that they created and
loved so well.

The Review

I need to start off by saying that there seemed to be
a major imbalance of the ages of the actors in comparison to the characters
they portrayed. I struggled for the first part of this film to connect with
Portman's Jackie due to her youthful
appearance. However, on time her performance and the story began to win me over
and draw me into this tale of great woe. Unless you hate knowing anything about
history, you will likely know that JFK (Mr Jackie) was assassinated and that
this is going to be a story that will have harrowing moments as we view the emotional
and political aftermath as it unfolds.

As the horror unfolds we get to see an emotional
rollercoaster of a journey that Jackie
has to go through as she attempts to come to grip with what has happened right
before her eyes. Through this film we get to witness the wide variety of stages
that come from loss and for the most part, Portman smashes it out of the park
and makes it quite real and believable.

A film like this is always going to hang on not only
the acting performances, but also the ability of the director to capture the
time period so that you feel completely transported to another time and place. With
the use of archival footage and well panned out cinematography, director Pablo
Larrain has done a stunning job of putting the audience right amongst it. This
was his first film to be made in the US and Larrain estimated
that about a third of the shots in the film were the first take. I guess this proves
how important preparation is to successful film making. In fact, filming moved
swiftly over 23 days on stages in Paris, with 10 days in Washington D.C. and
Baltimore.

As with many movies the film’s story is hung together
with an interview between an unnamed reporter and Jackie as she recounts
elements of what happened. Although unnamed in the film, Billy Crudup's
character is meant to be Theodore H. White of LIFE magazine. Through a
collection of on and off record comments, Crudup’s character starts to get a
powerful understanding of what Jackie had gone through and kind of just how
strong she was as a person.

There is plenty of wonderful dialogue spread lavishly
throughout the film and it certainly encouraged me to want to research just how
much of it potentially has been taken from reality.

The Verdict

This is a well put together visual representation
of the people behind a shocking moment in American history. A great watch.